| We ordered Eurorail passes, that would allow us unlimited train travel for five days in two countries. We flew to Prague, where the IVF Vacation driver picked us up at the airport and took us to the hotel in Zlin. The next day, we had our first appointment with Dr Anna, who is warm, friendly and truly interested in getting his patients pregnant. I didn't feel like just a wallet to him. The clinic, while still "Soviet era" on the outside, was clean, modern and welcoming once inside. The staff was well trained, and the translator made everything simple. My lining was checked, papers signed, and we were told that egg retrieval would be in two days. The next day, we boarded a train and headed to Vienna, Austria. What a beautiful amazing city! The following day, was egg retrieval, and the husbands did their parts. Since the clinic is so well run, it only took a little while to complete the appointments (very short wait times, unlike in the states where you can be left sitting in a waiting room for an hour or more while your nerves run amok!) with the afternoon free, we boarded another train and headed to Brno! What a fun city. If you love to window shop, or like me, plan on actually spending, this is a great city! The train station is filled with shops, the streets are filled with shops. Bohemian crystal is beautiful and the prices are amazing! The following day, Thursday, we decided to stay close to town as we awaited our reports from the clinic. We went to the farmers market in Zlin - tons of fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers. We window shopped downtown for awhile, then caught the local bus out to Lensa, where Zlin Zoo is located. The Zoo was a wonderfully relaxing way to spend the afternoon. Very clean, visitor friendly and the chateau is something to see! Our call finally came in, 15 eggs retrieved, 9 fertilized. We now just had to wait until Monday for transfer. Friday we again boarded a train and headed to Prague. Once there, we caught the metro and rode it to the furthest point, where we were able to climb the stairs to the castle and cathedral. The views of the city were breathtaking. We then walked back down the hill and began to explore the old parts of Prague. It took the entire day to explore our way back to the train station. Saturday we started out by taking the bus to the Centro Zlin mall outside of town, did some shopping, then again took the train to a local city, Olomouc, where the fountains around town square are a must see. (shops here are not open on the weekends). Sunday we traveled to Kromeriz to see the Palace, cathedral and explore the old town square. The architecture in these old cities is so beautiful. Monday was transfer day. We headed to the clinic where we were quickly taken to see the embryologist. Our news wasn't what we'd hoped for. Out of the 9 fertilized eggs, only two had survived to the blast stage to be transferred. I had hoped to have extras to freeze for future attempts, but that wasn't to be. We waited a bit, and were escorted in to see the finance secretary where we paid our bill, and then waited just a short while before being shown to our room and told to prepare. We were then taken into the surgical room, where my husband and I were calmed by Dr Anna and told to be hopeful. We were able to see our two embryos on the big screen, one was already hatching! The procedure was done fairly quickly and I was wheeled back to the other room on the same bed and told to rest for an hour. That hour changed my outlook. I realized this was the closest my husband and I had been to being pregnant and hope crept in. We spent the rest of that day quietly, then Tuesday we walked around the mall outside the city, just slowly strolling. Wednesday we explored more of downtown Zlin, walking down side streets and finding lovely little shops including a jewelry store and a yarn shop. Thursday the ivf vacation driver picked us up and delivered us to the Prague airport where we had a short flight back to Belgium. We found out this week that our cycle did not work, but my dear friend who traveled to Dr Anna at the same time and shared our adventures is pregnant! While I am sad that it didn't work for us this time, we have memories to last a lifetime from our trip, and plan to go back as soon as Dr Anna can schedule us. The Czech Republic is NOT a "third world country" as has been written in various articles trying to discourage traveling overseas for IVF. The clinic was clean, modern and very well run. While there remains quite a bit of Soviet Era architecture, which isn't very inspiring, there are many cities where the buildings date back hundreds of years and are well worth traveling to see. The people are friendly, and while English isnt widely spoken, taking along a phrase book helps. The care we received was first rate, better than clinics we've been to in the U.S. where the patients are treated like cattle and I never felt that the doctors at home were actually interested in helping us reach our goal of having children together. We are looking forward to traveling back very soon. Kay email MzDecadent@aol.com |